There's a shameful racial gap in American life expectancy — but it's shrinking

The latest analysis by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigates why the racial
gap in black and white life expectancy is shrinking — even though
the primary problem is that it still exists at all.

For people in the US, the average life expectancy in 2013 was
79.1 years, an increase from 77.3 in 1999.

But those averages hide some yawning disparities. Take a look at
this chart:

In 2013, the average life expectancy of black men and women in
the United States was just 75.5 years. That's still below what
the average life expectancy was for white men and women way back
in 1999 — 14 years earlier. The average life expectancy of black
men in 2013 was just 72.3 (compared to 76.7 for white men).

While such a significant gap is troubling, the black/white life
expectancy gap has actually decreased by about 2.3 years between
1999 and 2013. And in 1950, that gap was almost twice as large.

Why the gap is shrinking

In a 2013 report, the CDC examined persistent
causes for the racial gap in life expectancy in more detail.

"Higher death rates due to heart disease, cancer, homicide,
diabetes, and perinatal conditions" accounted for 60% of the gap,
the report noted. The report goes on to say that the gap would
have been even larger "if not for the lower death rates for the
black population for suicide, unintentional injuries, and chronic
lower respiratory diseases."

The changes that have caused the gap to narrow are more modest,
but important. In its most
recent report, the CDC noted that the gap has shrunk over
time primarily because of "decreases in death rates for the black
population for heart disease, cancer, HIV disease, unintentional
injuries, and perinatal conditions, which together accounted for
59.1% of the 2.3-year decrease in the gap." A rise in aortic
aneurysm, Alzheimer’s disease, and maternal conditions among the
black men and women had the opposite effect.

Below you can see the most significant changes behind the
shrinking of the life expectancy gap: